White wings
by Cat 2
Summary: In an alternative universe a law has being passed, that in theroy protects mutants. SHIELD Mutant Protection Department, aided by the staff of the Westchester Mutant Institute seek to enforce this. in this story Angel is brought to the Institute, but who
1. Ch1 Possible Mutant related Violence

White wings 

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns all characters mentioned with the exception of Cat who is my own invention. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 1 Possible Mutant related Violence

It was pure chance that Cat was awake when the call came in. Sabretooth had had a couple of bad fits and it took longer than usual to settle him and Kyle. It had also left Cat feeling very awake, so she decide to go and make herself some hot chocolate as she knew if she went to bed she'd just toss and turn for hours. So she was in the kitchen heating up the milk when the telephone rang. She quickly grabbed it to avoid waking up any of the patients and hoped that it was Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen to let them know that Ororo's baby had arrived safely, but it wasn't.

"Good evening, Westchester Mutant Institute? Nick do you have any idea what time it is over here? Umh… Umh…! Mutant victim or suspect?…what?…Neither? Oh I see he's a witness!"

"Yeah" Nick Fury's voice came down the telephone. "Masked intruders broke in to the house and killed his parents from the look of things. Kid was found after the police were called."

"And you want us there…why?"

"Two reasons. See that the law is enforced," he held the phone a couple of inches from his ear as Cat response came bellowing down. "Yes! Yes! We do have others who could do that, but the owner is Warren Kenneth Worthington jr." he paused letting this information sink in. "The police have been questioning the kid for a hour, but he's not saying any thing. Literally." And he added dropping his voice "he's got some interesting bruises…"

"When do you want us?" Cat asked resignedly.

"Chopper will pick you up in two minutes!" Fury said, with a note of triumph in his voice. He hung up. Cat did the same.

Two minutes. That gave her just enough time to wake up Wolverine and see if Michael would be able to join them. With that in mind she turned and headed up stairs.

The institute was built on what in her native Britain would have being called a public private partnership. The building belonged to Professor Charles Xavier, but most of the funding came from the Mutant Protection Department of SHIELD, to which herself and Wolverine belonged. The institute provided help to the victims of mutant abuse, and to those who needed help controlling their powers. It was one of only a few places that offered this and, was the best. Because of this the patients tended to be divided into those who were victims of mutant abuse, and usually SHIELD'S clients, for example the Summer's brothers who were survivors of Sinister's camps, and those with injuries and problems related to their powers, such as Jean Grey who had being in a coma for ten years after Witnessing the death of her best friend in a car accident, who were viewed as being Xavier and his friend Erik Magnus Lensherr patients.

Cat was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost missed the turn off for the staff corridor. What brought her back to earth was a scent. Cat's senses were heightened to a level that they were better than the animal that bore her name. She smiled. Logan and Raven must be back together again.

Raven Darkholme a.k.a Mystique and James "Logan" Howlett a.k.a Wolverine had what Moria Targert called a "soap opera relationship" since they met. This as far as Cat could tell consisted of having huge fights and making up after them. Still they seemed to enjoy it and they were well suited.

With that thought in mind she knocked on the door. It was purely a formality; Wolverine's senses would have picked her up before she even turned off into the corridor.

"Logan?" she said cautiously pushing the door open. "Fury wants us"

Wolverine groaned and sat up bare chested in the moonlight. Mystique lounged up supporting her head against one of her blue skinned hands. She had for the sake of Cat's comfort used her powers, so that it appeared that she was wearing a peach towel wrapped around her.

"What does he want?" she asked wearily.

"Possible mutant related violence. Witness is a mutant with "interesting" bruises. Found in the house of Warren Kenneth Worthington jr."

"Hellfire club!" Wolverine declared, grabbing his pants of a chair near the bed.

"Yeah!" she then turned to Mystique. "Mystique I'm really sorry about this, but can you please let Xavier know what's happen and tell him to get ready for a new patient? I've got to go and try and contact Michael. Chopper leaves in 2 minutes."

Two minutes later Wolverine met Cat in the lobby.

"Any luck with Michael?" he asked.

Cat shook her head. " He's in delivery room. Gave them details of where we'll be and asked him to contact me."

Wolverine nodded. "OK. Let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2 Angel

Chapter 2 Angel

"From what I can gather from Nick" Cat said as they both sat in the SHIELD Chopper, "Police were called to the house of Warren Kenneth Worthington jr fairly late in the evening, after neighbours heard screaming. They found the body of Mrs Worthington at the bottom of the stairs. She had being stabbed frequently. A male body, possible her husband, was found on the landing. He had being shot at close quarters, face all but blown off. The Witness was found locked in a small dark room off the landing. They took him to the station where someone realised that he was a mutant and called MPD. Fury was dragged in when it was realised whose house it was. Current official version is that masked intruders broke in, but personally that seems like a load of rubbish. Personally I think that Shaw and his cronies were involved but I'm biased."

Glancing forward at the pilot Wolverine dropped his voice, so that only the two of them with their heighten senses could hear.

"We'll get them for what they did to Langram. I promise!"

Cat nodded and continued.

"Fury notices that there's some bruises on the kid. There's no bruises on either of the two bodies and some are a couple of days old. The kid's also behaving strangely. He thinks there's something for us to investigate."

"He tell you what was wrong with the kid?" Wolverine asked.

Cat shook her head. "Fury wouldn't say. Just said to get our butts out there."

Wolverine nodded and they lapsed into silence for the remainder of the journey.

You didn't need to be a telepath to know that they weren't welcome at the NYPD station. While the 1981 mutant protection act had made the violence and prejudice that had characterised the early years of mutant awareness illegal, there were still a thousand and one ways of hurting and discriminating against mutants. As survivors of the infamous weapon X project Cat and Wolverine knew the worse that humanity were capable of, which made them experts in their field. They also knew the little things that could be used to break a mutant's soul.

Still with Colonel Nick Fury around they would have to be careful. Fury had taken men's badges for failing to show respect to his officers. It was because of this that Cat addressed Fury rather than the inspector standing beside him.

"Where's the kid?"

"Interview room 2" the inspector replied. "My men are still trying to get him to talk!"

Cat and Wolverine exchanged looks as Fury pointed them down the corridor.

The witness was terrorised. That much was oblivious though the 2 way mirror. The two detectives were yelling questions at him, trying to get him to tell them his name. With every question the young man's eyes seemed to grow wider.

The eyes reminded Cat of some one else's, but it wasn't till she looked at Wolverine that she was able to place them. They were the eyes of a man trapped and fighting to get out of a pit that his mind had created. She had seen that in Logan's eyes, in Sabretooth's, in Kyle's, in Feral's and, a long time ago, in her own. She nodded and they entered the interview room.

The scent of terror filled the entire room. At the entrance of two new faces, a pair of huge white wings came out from behind the young man's back and covered his face like a shield.

Acting on instinct Cat lent forward and touched the light switch, plunging the room into darkness. She then touched a light-emitting device on her belt to generate enough light for most people to see in.

The young man appeared more relaxed in the darkness and slowly the wings came away from the face to reveal a young man of sixteen with blonde hair and blue eyes that were wide with fear.

It was a long-standing SHIELD joke that Wolverine could get any one to talk; it was just a question of finding the right way. With that in mind Wolverine sat down in the chair opposite the young man.

"It's OK kid," he said calmly and quietly. "None of us will hurt you. There's no danger. We 're just going to talk."

The scent of terror coming off the young man remained as strong.

"What's your name Angel?" Cat asked in what Wolverine sometimes called her mother voice, crouching down and wishing that they would put more than two chairs in an interview room. She had no idea why she had just called him angel. She would have usually used sweetheart or as he was male perhaps kiddo.

The young man made no movement. Cat glanced at Logan, worried. He jerked his head towards the door and they made their exit. They now both stood in the corridor.

"We ain't going to get anything out him tonight" Wolverine declared.

Cat nodded "he's scared stiff! But Fury was right those bruises need investigating."

She glanced down into her short friend's eyes before saying "the institute?"

Wolverine nodded. Together they walked to where Fury stood with the inspector and another man. Every muscle in Cat body tensed as she recognised him. Warren Kenneth Worthington jr., head of Worthington industries and member of the Hellfire club. And he was now shouting.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON? I GET HOME TO FIND THE PLACE CRAWLING WITH COPS!"

"Mr Worthington. If you will please calm down-" the inspector began but Fury interrupted him.

"Mr Worthington while you were out your house was broken into. I'm very sorry to have to tell you this but your wife was killed."

"Your son is still alive." Cat added. "Although I am recommending that he is taken into SHIELD protective custody."

The three men spun around to face, all three faces showing shock and anger. Fury grabbed her arm and dragged her down the corridor, indicating that Wolverine should follow. He dragged Cat to the room that they had first entered.

"Can't you control her?" he hissed angrily at Wolverine.

"I don't even try!" Wolverine replied evenly.

"With respect sir" Cat interjected. "The young man has, if not witnessed, then at least over heard the death of his mother. He has bruises and other injuries that need treatment and investigation. We're never going to get anything out of him tonight, he's too scared. Let us take him to the institute, give us twenty four hours and we'll find out what happened."

Fury glanced at Wolverine who nodded. He knew better than to argue when he knew he was beaten.

"Take him then. I'll explain it to the father."

The two mutants nodded and carefully made their way into the interview where the young man still sat, in the same position as when they had left.

"Come on Angel" Cat said gently "we're going to take you somewhere where you'll be safe."

The young mutant gazed up and seeing only kindness in those eyes, allowed himself to be led out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3 Meeting Everybody

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended. Sorry forgot to put this on Chapter 2.

Chapter 3: Meeting Everybody.

Moria MacTarggert made her way down to breakfast early, but she was not the first one. Cat was already up, putting the kettle on and shoving bread in the toaster.

"Last to bed, first up!" Moria observed coolly.

"So I'm the tweeny." Cat joked, laughing. Moria did not laugh, despite been one of a handful of people at the institute who would have understood the joke.

"What time did you get to bed last night?" she enquired. Cat shrugged.

"Two or three. I'm not sure; you'll have to ask Mystique."

"And it's now" Moria glanced at the clock. "Seven o'clock and you've been up for…?"

"'Bout half an hour." Cat replied. She shrugged. "I'm alright, I've lasted on less."

Moria might have said more, but a distraction was provided at that moment by the entrance of Sabretooth with Kyle.

"You should be in bed!" Cat said sternly. "If Michael catches you up-"

"Quit fussin' will ya! I'm fine." Sabretooth replied, sinking into the chair nearest them. Kyle was attached to Sabretooth by a collar and chain that was secured to Sabretooth's wrist, sat like a dog next to him.

While Kyle, like Cat, Wolverine and Logan, had a healing factor and claws, his mutation was very different. It had been induced into him and possibly because of that it left him in an animistic state. That was the reason for the chain. Kyle was if possible more dangerous than Wolverine in a berserker rage as he couldn't always tell who was his friend and his enemy. The chain meant that he could be yanked back before he hurt anyone. Curiously the other three mutants, with claws and healing factor, had a connection with Kyle that no one else could understand and because of this he was no threat to them. However to those like Moria, who he now sat regarding with deep suspicion, he was dangerous.

Because of this Moria moved back a couple of steps and began making coffee.

"Really?" Cat continued. "Last night you had a fever of 180, could barely breathe, you were virtually blind and deaf, and were in agony. I know you have a healing factor but…" she turned around and saw, not for the first time, the pain in Sabretooth's eyes.

A year ago Sabretooth had escaped from Apocalypse, possible the most infamous mutant murderer, taking Kyle with him. In return for information about Apocalypse defences Sabretooth and Kyle had been pardoned. However it turned out that Sabretooth carried information that was more valuable and more deadly, than even he knew. Apocalypse, it seemed, had been developing a virus to eradiate ordinary human. He had, in fact, created the opposite. The SHIELD mutants who had been in contact with Sabretooth had died within twenty four hours, as had the mutant guinea pigs of Apocalypse. Sabretooth's healing factor was fighting it, but barely. From his white blood cell a vaccine had quickly been developed, but there was no cure. Sabretooth was dieing and he knew it.

Cat was spared an awkward moment by the toaster.

"Anyway" she said, reaching over, grabbing a couple of slices of toast and buttering it. "Now you're up, you might as well have a decent breakfast! Eat!" she said sliding the plate across, "and I don't want to see you feeding 90 of it to Kyle"

"He's a growing boy" Sabretooth observed.

"Ummm" Cat began, but she spared answering by the arrival of Dr Michael Twoyoungmen.

"You've been drinking!" Cat observed.

"Just a glass or two! Anyway" he continued defensively "can't a man celebrate the safe arrival of an heir for Wakanda?"

"She had it then," was Cat's only response.

Michael nodded. "A boy Evans T'Chaka, born at 6 am this morning weighing eight pounds, the son of Ororo and T'Challa."

Cat smiled softly. The 18 year old mutant queen of Wakanda had become pregnant with in a few months of her marriage and Cat knew that Michael had been over the moon to be asked to care for the mother and deliver the child.

"Difficult labour?" she asked.

"Have you ever tried delivering a baby in the middle of a hurricane?"

Cat might have replied, had not the Summers' brothers chosen that moment to make their entrance.

Scott and Alex Summers had being 8 and 6 when their parents were killed in a plane crash. Both had been taken to an orphanage run by Dr Nathan Essex, a.k.a Sinister. They had remained there till Scott was 12 and Alex was 10 when a routine SHIELD investigation had found Sinister, still wanted for crimes against humanity committed during World War II. Sinister had escaped, but his records had revealed his belief, now proved correct, that Scott and Alex were powerful mutants. This coupled with Sinister's indoctrination of his philosophies (hatred of non mutants and survival of the fittest), had led to them been taken to the institute.

Scott was now 18, tall with brown hair and eyes that were hidden behind ruby quartz lenses. When the plane had crashed Scott and Alex had been forced to jump out of the plane, with the only parachute. Damage that Scott had received to his brain as a result of the rough landing had left him with amnesia and unable to control his optic blasts. Despite this there was hope that he would be able to study engineering at one of the local colleges in the fall or apply to train as a pilot with SHIELD, but that was still very much in the air.

Alex however was tall, blonde and in the manner of all sixteen year olds out of portion. None of the local schools would accept students from the institute, so Alex was educated at home. His loves were not planes, like his brother, but sports and geophysics. Alex powers were similar to his brother's, but while Scott's blasts came out of his eyes, Alex's came from his hands,

Neither of them was dressed, so they merely grabbed bowls and cereal before sitting down as far away from Sabretooth as they could get.

A second later Jean Grey entered, clutching a doll. At the age of eight, Jean's best friend had been killed in a hit and run accident. The shock as the child witnessed it had caused her powers to develop. As the main one of these was telepathy (along with telekinesis and an undefined power, nicknamed the phoenix force) she had felt her friend die. The shock of this had sent her in to a coma for ten years. While she had recently awakened, she was still mentally eight. Scott adored her as Sinister had stated that they were destined to be together. Because of this Jean wandered over to sit beside Scott, who poured her some cereal.

The sound of pounding feet announced the arrival of the last long term patient, Feral. Feral, like Cat, Wolverine and Sabretooth was a survivor of the weapon X project. She had only been 16 when they got hold of her, and the experiments that they had preformed on her had forced her body into a semi animalistic state. She was slowly emerging from it. She now could use some basic language, stand, admittedly slightly uncertainly, on two legs and sort of feed herself. By that it meant that about 90 of the food ended up on her, her clothes and the walls. Because of this Cat handed the plate of toast for Kyle to Sabretooth and, picking up a bowl, made her way over to sit next to Feral, just as Wolverine and Mystique entered.

"Mmm Mystique?" Moria asked.

"Yeah?" Mystique replied, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"What time did Cat and Logan get to bed last night?"

"About two thirty" Mystique replied sinking into a chair. "They were late back after settling the new patient."

"New Patient!"

Everyone turned to look at Cat and Wolverine, including Feral who spilt a large quantity of her breakfast over herself and Cat.

The telephone chose that moment to ring and Wolverine escaped to answer it.

"Coward!" Cat muttered at Wolverine's retreating back. "Yes! Yes! We do have a new patient" she continued, grabbing a handful of kitchen towel and wiping herself and Feral down. "He arrived last night. He's SHIELD's responsibility and he'll be staying with us for a few days so Be Nice!" she turned her attention to Michael. "He's got some bruises that Fury's concerned about."

"Yeah Sharman," Wolverine said entering, "so you'd best knock up some Mumbo jumbo and sober up fast. Fury wants a report by noon."


	4. Chapter 4 Accident, Sucide or Murder

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 4 "Murder, Accident or Suicide"

While the main body of staff at The Westchester Mutant Institute almost never varied, there was one post that changed about every 3 months, that of school nurse. Beside the difficulties of getting nurses to work in any semi private facility, the fact that almost all the staff and patients were mutants tended to put people off.

Maria Shamrock was the latest in a series of SHIELD appointed nurses and she was the worse. It wasn't that she was mildly incompetent, which she was; or her insistence of wearing a hospital nurses uniform, which she did, instead of the casual clothes that the rest of the staff wore; or her habit of treating everyone like they were five or six. No the main problem with Marie Shamrock was her unfailing, terrifying cheeriness.

This cheeriness was now directed at the winged, blonde haired, blue eyed young man who sat on the infirmary bed.

"Right now my love!" she said, stopping her humming and turning to face him "let's get you out of these filthy clothes shall we?" she continued, running her eyes over the young man.

Warren Worthington III had being wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, when he had been taken to the police station. The t-shirt hadn't been very clean when he arrived, and after a night in it, it was even worse. It had also ridden up when the wings emerged, meaning that it was now resting on top of the wings, just above the shoulder blades.

Maria reached out to help, but the young man backed violently away from her.

"Now don't be silly." She said, coming nearer to him. Warren backed even further away, till he hit the headboard and flung his arms up to shield his face.

"For Goodness sake!" Maria began as Dr Michael Twoyoungmen entered.

"Ah Doctor" Maria said, turning to face him ( another problem with Maria, she insisted upon calling Michael Doctor, while everyone else called him Michael or Shaman if they were pushing it). "He won't get undress, the silly boy!"

"That's quite alright nurse" Michael said, breathing in and making a mental note to ask Cat or Wolverine to get on to Fury about a replacement as soon as possible. "You go and get on with your duties. I'll deal with him."

This seemed to if possible scare Warren even more, as his wings came out and covered his face.

Just as it was a long standing joke that there was no one who Wolverine could not get to talk, there was also no one who Dr Michael Twoyoungmen couldn't put at their ease. Because of this he turned calmly to his patient.

"It's alright." He said, gently "you're not in any trouble, no one is going to hurt you. All we want to do is help you ok?"

The young man relaxed and allowed Michael to remove his t-shirt.

It took all of Michael training and courage not to wince. The chest, arms and neck appeared to be comprised entirely of bruises. He mentally shook his head. This would take a while.

Scott and Alex Summers were on the indoor basket ball court. Alex had always loved basket ball and even while his developing mutant powers made his hands hurt, he still loved to play. However opponents presented difficulties, as one on one between the two brothers became boring after a while. Kyle's and Feral's attempts at playing, almost always resulted in burst balls and cut arms; Wolverine had a habit of cutting the hoops down half way though the game; mystique shape shifting abilities made it impossible to tell who side she was on; Sabretooth flatly refused to play with them; Moria MacTarggert viewed it as a waste of time, as did Erik Magnus Lensherr; Michael and Professor Xavier tended to be too busy and Cat…Cat had to have the rules and point of the game explained to her every game, else she ended up playing it as netball. Because of this the brothers were alone on the court when Warren entered, walking nervously.

"Hey" Alex said, remembering Cat's instructions to "Be Nice", "you wanna play ball" he threw the ball towards Warren as he spoke. Warren easily caught the ball and seeing only friendship in Alex's eyes, stepped on to the court.

"He seems to be settling in" Cat said as she watched from the Observation both above the court.

"He's 16 and can play ball without destroying the ball or the court" wolverine replied "He'd be OK with Alex in any form."

"Suppose so" Cat shrugged, turning away from the observation room windows and sinking in to a chair. "Now," she continued. "I suppose we'd better get down to business" she turned, passing control over to Nick Fury who had arrived a few minutes before to receive the report in person. He nodded.

"What or more precisely who caused the injuries?" he asked.

"Accident, murder or suicide as it were," Cat observed.

"Accident is out" Michael said, calmly. "There are too many bruises. Unless the young man is a Haemophiliac; which he is not, I tested for it; there is no way that amount of injuries could occur by accident."

"Then what percentage is it possible, or probably were self inflicted?" Fury continued. Noticing the shocked look on the faces of the institute staff he explained.

"Early this morning I talked with Mr Worthington Jr. about the bruises on his son. He claimed that the kid had been depressed, moody, had even tried to commit suicide since discovering he was a mutant. He said he'd seen him a couple of times, throwing himself at the walls."

He lapsed into silence. There was no need to say anymore, they'd have heard all before. Some psychologist claimed that mutants were more naturally prone to depression. That in Fury's experience was a load of bull. They tended to develop depression because of the way society treated them.

He turned to Cat and Wolverine. "Your opinion on this?"

Cat shrugged. "Pass. Up to about a year ago reports from the school he was attending are fine. Good scholar, good athlete. Then suddenly the kid starts acting up, ends up been moved to a room by himself. Then after a fire, which nearly killed several of the students, he's expelled. No reason given. The headmaster was rather short when I spoke to him"

"Best guess mutant powers start developing and the kid's terrorised that he'll be found out" Wolverine continued. "Then is found out and expelled after the fire."

"But there's no indication of depression or self inflicted violence any where in the reports." Cat finished. Fury nodded. That didn't mean what they had been told wasn't true, it just meant that there was no previous evidence for it.

"I would say" Michael began cautiously "that, while in theory most of the injuries could have been self inflicted, the timescale makes it highly unlikely. Some of the injuries, including broken bones have only a few days maximum between them, the pain would have been too great!"

Fury nodded. Mr Worthington's story was losing credibility every second.

"He said anything?" he asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"What's his mental state like?" he asked turning his attention to Professor Charles Xavier who sat quietly in his wheelchair. He had missed breakfast that morning; due to another case he was involved in, treating an outpatient.

"The young man is extremely scared. That much is evident to anyone. However his terror is very intense and even when I probed his mind, he refused to release the source of his fears. I am however quite sure that it is not against his mutancy, although they appear to be linked."

"Is he depressed?" Fury asked.

The professor paused, before replying, "No I wouldn't say so. He is very scared, but not depressed."

"What about his inability to speak?" Cat asked. "Is that merely shock?"

There was a pause during which Michael and professor Xavier exchanged looks.

"Possibly" the professor began slowly "but-"

Michael interrupted. "There's evidence of a massive trauma to the head. There has been internal bleeding. It 's cleared up, but there's brain damage…including to the area that controls speech."

There was silence after this for a while.

Then Fury spoke slowly. "What about his mutation?" he asked "is it… natural?"

He finished, aware of how those words could be taken. Thankful everyone seemed to take it in the sense it was meant.

Moria MacTaggert nodded. "There's no evidence of genetic tampering or of chemical or nuclear interference. Yes I would have to say he's a natural mutant."

" Telephone for you Colonel Fury" Sage, professor Xavier's personal assistant, the ice queen as Fury privately called her, glided in. Fury got to his feet and Moria continued.

"His whole body, it's like it's been completely altered for flight. His bones are honey combed; He's got a system of extracting oxygen that's unlike anything I've ever seen. It incredibly efficient. He could survive in atmospheres that would knock you two unconscious." She glanced at Cat and Wolverine.

"He also has the potential for a healing factor, similar to Cat's" Sage observed with a slight smile, but Sage always looked like life was a joke and she was the only one who knew the punch line.

"That doesn't seem to have developed yet" Michael observed icily.

"Good thing too, else we'd have no evidence." Cat observed, automatically trying for peace, just like she did between Wolverine and Sabretooth.

"Doesn't matter now" Fury said re-entering the room. "That was HQ. We're to drop the case; Warren Kenneth Worthington Jr was just arrested for the murder of his wife and brother!"


	5. Chapter 5 Interviews

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 5 Interviews

Cat and Wolverine made their way though the security checks and searches to the SHIELD interview room. In there sat Warren Worthington Jr. and a small mouse like man, who Cat presumed was his lawyer.

"Agent Wolverine. Agent Cat." he said leaning across the table to shake their hands. "Now" he continued as they began to sit down, "let me just say that I have advised my client against this. I would prefer that under the circumstances that he reserved his defence for trail-"

"Quit been so cautious Robert!" Mr Worthington interrupted. "As I told you already there's nothing that I can say that lower these agents opinion of me and my friends."

Indeed there wasn't.

Nearly 20 years ago, Wolverine's Canadian Secret Service partner, Neil Langram, had been murdered. Cat had been out of the country at the time, so all she knew about the events was second hand. When Internal Affairs had failed to take the affair seriously, even going as far as accusing Neil Langram of treason, Wolverine and American Air Force Intelligence officer and Wolverine and Cat's friend, Carol Danvers, had begun their own investigation. What they had discovered still sicken any one who heard it.

There had been a global conspiracy to divide mutants, who were at that point starting to emerge in large numbers across the world, up into teams for a future war. When Langram had refused to join the Hellfire Club's team he had been murdered by Sabretooth, who was at that point employed by the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Because of this, Cat's attitude to Sabretooth baffled Mystique and indeed everyone else. Cat's reasoning was that if it hadn't been Sabretooth, it would have just been some other hired gun.

Anyway after Carol and Wolverine had discovered this, Sabretooth had tired to kill them. In this he had failed.

Neil's death, for all the pain it had caused Cat, had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Terrorised by what she had seen and by the disappearance of Wolverine and (a few weeks later) Cat, Carol Danvers had gone to a rising young senator, Robert Kelly. By what means no one was entirely sure, she had persuaded Kelly to take her seriously. It was he who less than a year later, had introduced the Mutant Protection Bill and it was mainly due to his tired less campaigning that it had been passed at all. This had led to another bill been passed by the UN. Despite this, Cat could not forgive the Hellfire Club, or any one connected with them.

Possibly some of this feeling passed into Cat's normally expressionless face for Warren Worthington Jr tensed.

"I didn't hurt my son"

"And the death of your wife?" Cat enquired coolly.

"You don't believe I killed her?" Mr Worthington said, surprise ringing in every syllable.

"From my dealings with the Hellfire club I would expect something… neater" she finished carefully.

Mr Worthington smiled. "I told the police the truth. I left my house at 8 o'clock and met some associates-"

"Who you refuse to name" Cat interjected.

"I was at the Hellfire Club O.K.? We were attempting to resolve a dispute in our Inner Circle."

Cat nodded. "Please continue"

"I came home about 1 and found the house crawling with cops." He shrugged. "The rest you know."

"The motive, the police are currently suggesting, for your wife's death, is that you were angry with her for giving you a mutant for an heir, I understand that her health was always poor and her doctor had advised against another pregnancy and that you had discovered that she had been unfaithful. The motive in your brother's death, was that was the gentleman who your wife was having her liaison." She finished, gazing at Warren Worthington Jr with eyes devoid of pity.

Mr Worthington sighed. "I did not know that my wife was sleeping with any one, least of all Burtram. You could have knocked me down with a feather when Stuart told me."

Cat nodded "Stuart?" she enquired

"You haven't met him? No I suppose he'll not have time to call in yet. Dr Stuart. Family physician. Brought Warren into this world and confirmed our worst fears." He shook his head at the memory.

Cat bit her lip to prevent her from replying for a few minutes. "You do not then agree with Shaw's party who think we should rule." She asked silkily.

"No I threw my luck in with Donald Piece and his party"

"So you believe we, at best, should be controlled and as a general rule killed as Satan's spawn." Cat continued equally silkily.

While Mr Worthington fumbled for a reply, Cat reviewed what she had learnt. Dr Stuart. Why did that name ring a bell?

At about the same time, there was a ring on the bell of the institute. Mystique, glancing at the security monitors, saw a young woman with black hair and pale skin. She was obviously nervous, and seemed to be forcing herself to remain where she stood by pure will power. Out of curiosity more than anything else, she pushed the button to activate the intercom.

"Yes?"

"Um hi. I'm Candy, Candy Southern. I'm here to see Warren. I mean Warren Worthington III. I'm…I'm a friend of his," she finished lamely.

Mystique paused. If she let this girl in she'd be breaking about half a dozen rules on possible mutant abuse victims. On the other hand the child in question was withdrawn and unhappy. Something in her told her that this girl might be able to help. And with Cat and Wolverine absent there was no chance of this ending in a yelling match with Fury. She made her decision quickly.

"Please wait one moment." She said, pressing the button to open the gates and watching the young woman step in, gazing with terrorised eyes at the gates as they closed behind her.

"You should be more careful." Mystique jumped as Professor Xavier voice, telepathically echoed in her head. She shrugged and concentrated on her reply.

"She's the first visitor we've had for him. She might help us to get him to talk." She signed. "We need to know who did this to him, else…" else they're free to do it again, was the unspoken ending. She hurried down stairs, altering her appearance, so that she appeared at least vaguely normal, with red hair, pink skin and green eyes with pupils.

She had hoped that she would reach the door first, but Maria had already done so and was interrogating the girl. It took all of Mystique self-control not to strike the woman as she explained who candy was, but eventually Maria walked off, muttering darkly about amateurs interfering in the work of professionals. Mystiques scowled at Maria retreating back and led Candy into the lounge to wait.

Candy tried to sit still on the sofa, while Mystique went to fetch Warren, but she couldn't. Everything that had happened in the last two months kept echoing around her head, till she felt that she would scream. Eventually she could bear it no longer; she got to her feet and began pacing around the room. Thankfully it was only a few seconds before Mystique entered with Warren. She smiled at Candy, then departed.

"Um…Hi Warren. It's me. Candy. That's stupid. I mean you know who I am." She laughed nervously "I guess I'm here to offer condolences bout your mum."

She gazed at Warren waiting for a response. Warren merely gazed back at her blankly.

"Warren, please speak to me. I know it hurts, but keeping it all inside won't help." She gazed, pleading with her eyes for some response. There was none. "Warren please! You're safe here. He can't hurt you any more!"


	6. Chapter 6 The end

Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 6 The End

Cat's hand hit the table with enough force to make everyone jump.

"Of course!" she cried. Catching sight of the confused look on Wolverine's face she continued. "The Calsburg case that's where I heard it."

Comprehension dawned on Wolverine's face.

About 3 weeks ago Carol Danvers had come to the institute in tears. After two beers and numerous cups of tea she was calm enough to tell them what was wrong

Carol, it seemed had spent the last few weeks investigating a case of mutant related violence in up town New York. However her possible victim, a Donald Calsburg, had taken in his own life, before anything could be proved.

"But he didn't! He wasn't depressed. But than Dr Stuart comes along and tell them that he'd tried suicide before and they just write it off as a depressed mutant fantasising, when it's more than likely that that bloody doctor had something to do with it."

Wolverine jumped to his feet.

"We need to get back." He said. Cat nodded.

Warren sat alone in his room. Candy had left after an hour and was now in the kitchen been comforted by Mystique. He felt sorry. He knew that she was only trying to help, but he couldn't risk it. After what had happened last time…

The door opened.

"You remember," said a low voice, "what I'd do if you ever tried to leave."

Warren backed away terrorised. From the pockets of his coat the man withdrew a surgical scalpel. He walked slowly towards the cowering boy.

Click! The sound of a gun being primed and the feeling of the pressure of a gun barrel against the side of the head made the man freeze.

"Not so fast." Growled a voice in his ear.

Hands with claw like nails reached out and pushed the alarm button.

The alarm echoed all over the institute. It made Mystique and Candy in the kitchen jump. It made Maria in the infirmary spin like a top. In his study Xavier reached out with his mind searching for the source of the alarm. And Cat and Wolverine pushed open the door and ran up the stairs. They ran to Warren's room, dreading what they might find.

Sabretooth was standing in the middle of the room; Kyle on his wrist, growling menacingly at the intruder; holding Cat's old Ludendoff, primed and ready to fire. Warren was cowering against the bed board. And Dr Stuart, recognisable from his photo in the files, was standing with a scalpel drawn.

"Dr Stuart. You're under arrest for the murder of Kathryn Worthington and Burtram Worthington and the attempted murder of Warren Worthington III" Wolverine said, pushing past Sabretooth and slapping the cuffs over the doctor's wrists.

"The autopsy" Cat said, taking a slip of tea, "showed evidence of poison in Mrs Worthington's blood stream. Looks like Dr Stuart was trying to poison Mrs Worthington, but decided that it was too risky."

"But why kill her anyway?" Maria asked. "That's what I can't understand."

"According to Nick," Cat replied, "Stuart was the one who was having the affair with Mrs Worthington. But she, starved of love from her husband, wanted to leave him for Stuart. Stuart couldn't have that. Quite apart from the scandal, he was sure that someone would pick up on Mrs Worthington's death as suspicious. If they'd picked up during her marriage, her husband would have been the prime suspect and he could have claimed his reluctance to create a scandal on the kid."

"What poison was he using?" Moria asked, interested.

Cat shrugged. "Something that affects the body's ability to process oxygen. Very rare and very hard to trace."

"Sounds a bit complicated when there's good old arsenic for a domestic." Sabretooth drawled.

"Dr Stuart could have argued the use of a hit man, and the cops found a medical text book in Worthington's house that mentioned it" Cat observed. "Probably Stuart planted it there. He also had records of some conversations between him and Mr Worthington that could be interrupted as Worthington planning to murder his wife."

"What about Burtram?"

Wolverine laughed. "Now there's an interesting story. Burtram, it seems, was using Worthington industries as a cover for a diamond smuggling ring. Best guess that the doc tried blackmailing him. They struggled and the gun goes off killing him. Stuart maintaining that his death was an accident."

"What about Mr Worthington story about seeing his son beating himself up and the suicide attempts?"

"Moira You said that the kid's body was adjusted for flight? I eventually tracked down someone from the school who was prepared to talk to me. They said that during the fire Warren was trapped in his room and, for want of a better term (their words not mind), flew down. He then apparently rescued some others who were also trapped. My best bet is that he was trying figure out the limit of his power so he could escape from Dr Stuart. Can you imagine how he felt on the night that he feels that he's mastered it; the police found a bag packed in his room; his mother and uncle are murdered?"

They lapsed into silence.

Warren and Candy sat under the sycamore tree in the grounds in the setting sun. Candy glancing at her watch got up to go. Warren reached out and grabbed her hand. She looked at him confused until she looked into his eyes and suddenly there was no need for words.


End file.
